


the deep end

by wbtrashking (fan_nerd)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: College AU, Friends to Lovers, Gradual Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 03:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10528095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_nerd/pseuds/wbtrashking
Summary: "Well, you know what they say," Victor starts, "The closest friends make the best lovers.""Do they? I'm sure that's true," Yuuri off-handedly replies, unaware that he's turned Victor's world on its' axis, and now he's stricken with thoughts of Yuuri's casual attractiveness, frozen by the cut of his friend's jaw.Maybe that's what this has been the entire time, he thinks, pulse racing,a crush.The realization makes his stomach turn.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this wound up being pretty short, actually, but i had a lot of fun with this one! ♥
> 
> enjoy! :')

The moment that Victor truly knows he's screwed is when Yuuri crawls in his lap in the middle of Phichit's twenty-first birthday party. Without a care in the world, he plops down, face flushed from the liquor, and toys with Victor's bangs.

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could be this close all the time?"

Victor wishes that Yuuri weren't quite so drunk, so that he could eagerly reply _yes_ , instead of feeling like his world is falling apart.

//

They first cross paths in a writing workshop, where Yuuri doesn't leave much of an impression. The class is held fairly early in the morning, so he, like many other students, drags his feet as he steps inside. He dutifully does his work and replies to the discussion questions the professor posts on their university website, but otherwise, he's quiet and unassuming.

Victor starts to really understand him once it's time for Yuuri's work to be workshopped amongst the class. They are emailed copies of it and Victor is so amazingly entertained that he doesn't stop to make comments until his _third_ read through.

Yuuri's story tells the hilarious misadventures of Will Dawson, a struggling server at a large restaurant. He's cynical, fond of internal monologues, and desperately in need of a vacation. All of it feels so true to Victor that he snickers even as he jots down notes for minor adjustments. Sentence tweaks; suggestions for a possible continuation. The period where they have open critique is full of students raucously laughing and pointing out their favorite parts of the story. Kyle, their professor, eventually has to organize a proper feedback session.

Surrounded by positive chatter, Yuuri smiles easily, jotting down notes about his work quickly. After the class is dismissed, Victor goes to his side to extend his compliments personally.

"Never would have expected you to have such a nasty streak," the silver-haired man tells Yuuri, chuckling to himself a bit as they shake hands. "I'm Victor."

"Yuuri," the brunette replies with a sly smile. "Nice to meet you."

The two of them talk about writing and inspirations as they walk out of the building, and they exchange numbers before parting ways.

//

Their casual after-class discussions turn into hanging out at each other's apartments on Monday nights and kickbacks on Thursdays, since they have Fridays off of work and class. They can't _always_ get together, as work shifts need to be covered and they are sometimes too tired to hang, but for the most part they get to know each other well.

Victor takes very well to Phichit, sharing snaps and taking selfies together to post on Twitter and Instagram while Yuuri throws dinner together and grabs the beer. Phichit teases his roommate relentlessly, calling Yuuri an old man with only _Facebook_ to keep him company, and he rolls his eyes.

"I'm four years older than Yuuri, so he has no excuse," Victor joins Phichit in leering, wincing when Yuuri comes over the couch and smacks both of them with a wooden spoon.

"I don't know how to use other sites, and I'm not interested in figuring them out," Yuuri grumbles, flipping the chicken in the pan over and turning off the burner when it sizzles too loudly.

On the other hand, it takes Yuuri some time to open up to Chris. He's an introvert, and touch-adverse besides, but Victor brings him over after they've been hanging for a few weeks with a warning about Chris's lack of boundaries.

Yuuri jumps and huffs quite a bit that first night, stuck between two tactile men. He eases up once they start sloshing down wine, bickering about whether cats or dogs were the superior pet, and Victor finds a true companion in Yuuri, a fellow supporter in the dog camp.

"Both of them have their perks, of course. I love them all, but let's be real. Poodles? Some of the finest creatures to grace to this earth."

Victor squeezes Yuuri until the stockier man wheezes. "Chris, move over. Our friendship is over. Yuuri's my best friend now."

Chris just cackles, humming a bit at their antics as Yuuri grins.

//

Seasons pass, classes change, and the two of them are comfortable enough to share work gossip with each other when they're not pressed for time to study and write expansive papers.

Victor talks about occasional dates, about hitting the local bars and restaurants, and his little brother halfway across the country, learning how to drive like the hellion that he is. Yuuri talks about being homesick, about his general lamentations about what he's doing with his life, and more.

They sometimes wind up chatting until the morning hours, falling asleep buried in novels, curled up on opposite ends of the same couch.

There is a quiet night where Yuuri looks up from his notebook full of doodles and says, "You know, with as often as I see you, it's almost like we're dating, huh?" He laughs and toys with his glasses, eyes flicking back and forth over the text he'd written.

Victor finds that he can't respond, because the thought had never crossed his mind. Now that Yuuri's said it, he's unable to think of anything else.

"Mm," he finally hums in response, hoping that his chuckle doesn't seem as forced as it is. "Well, you know what they say. The closest friends make the best lovers."

"Do they? I'm sure that's true," Yuuri off-handedly replies, unaware that he's turned Victor's world on its' axis, and now he's stricken with thoughts of Yuuri's casual attractiveness, frozen by the cut of his friend's jaw.

 _Maybe that's what this has been the entire time,_ he thinks, pulse racing, _a crush._

The realization makes his stomach turn.

//

When both Yuuri and Phichit start talking about the birthday bash, Victor leans back and breathes deeply, grateful to have a place to smile sincerely and get away from the pressures of work and school.

"You're coming, aren't you?" Phichit says. He's a petite man, but he carries enough spit and vinegar in his body to run a jet engine.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Victor assures him.

Yuuri flops on the couch next to him and reaches for the remote with a smile. "Good thing, too. You can keep me company while I try to fade into the background."

"Yeah right," Phichit chides the other man, putting one hand on his hip. "You're my best friend, Yuuri. You're going to get properly drunk like the rest of us and shove pasta and cake in your face, like any self-respecting college student."

"I'm a grad student. It's different."

Victor patronizingly puts one hand on Yuuri's shoulder. "Oh, Yuuri. I am looking _forward_ to this."

Yuuri folds his arms over his chest and scoffs. "Both of you are terrible and I'm going to shock everyone and stay _sober_ the whole evening of your party. No toasts, no nothing!"

"Mmhmm," Phichit hums knowingly and Victor shakes his head as well.

//

Yuuri does _not_ remain sober by any means – not with Leo challenging him to drink-offs, and Victor promising to drink just as much as Yuuri does so he won't be the only one laid out on the floor in the morning.

Thus, Victor's predicament arises. He's been stifling his true intentions and emotions with regards to Yuuri (and what he refuses to verbally acknowledge as anything other than a crush), but he's tipsy, a lot more inebriated than he's been in months, and Yuuri is warm against him, bubbly and soft.

The brunette flops down in Victor's lap, uncaring of the comments they receive from the other party guests, dark eyes shining as he closes his eyes, fingers still rested on the silver-haired man's nape.

He falls asleep as soon as he says his piece about decreasing the distance between the two of them, and Victor knows he's going to make a fool of himself. He eventually decides he doesn't care – Yuuri's on the edge of falling asleep, and he's had more than enough whiskey to speak his mind. "I'd like being closer. I think that dating you would be the best thing that ever happened to me, but you're also one of my closest friends. I can't screw that up."

Victor winds up socializing just for a few more minutes before he heads off to Yuuri's room and puts the younger man under the covers, dozing off on the edge himself, tears drying on his cheeks as he sleeps.

//

Three days later, Yuuri asks Victor to meet up at a café. They've met there before, so there's no reason to feel jittery, but Victor feels equal parts weightless and like five tons of concrete are on his back. The drunken confession haunts him like a bad dream, and it doesn't help that Yuuri's been busy writing articles and brushing up on his texts for class.

They order their coffees and take a seat in a fairly quiet corner of the shop. After they catch up, Yuuri laughs about the horrendous headache he'd had after the party, and Victor gulps.

Before the brunette can say anything else, Victor says, "You don't remember that night, do you?"

Yuuri's face shifts and it's immediately apparent that he does, in fact, remember that night, very well. "We were drunk. It's okay." He averts his eyes and laughs soullessly. "I mean, you're usually out chatting people up, and you're on the market. I don't blame you for…saying those kinds of things."

He looks so hurt that Victor wants to jump over the table and shake him down. "Are you acting like an idiot on purpose?" Now Victor feels hot under the collar. He'd known that Yuuri could get in self-depreciative moods, but this is ridiculous. "I meant what I said, Yuuri. Those words were meant for _you_."

The brunette reels back like he's been slapped.

Victor deflates, sighing quietly. "I know that dating isn't something you particularly care about. I shouldn't have said anything about it while I was drunk either, but I really do like you, Yuuri. As more than a friend." Both of them breathe shallowly and he bows his head a bit. "If that makes you uncomfortable, I'm really sorry. Our friendship is more important than anything else, though, so I'll understand if you want to forget I said anything."

When he looks up, Yuuri is in tears, glaring at him and barely holding back sobs. "Or you could, you know, maybe ask me how I feel about the whole thing before assuming that I'd want to brush that sort of thing off."

Shock is openly displayed on Victor's face, and he's the one reeling this time, at a loss for what to do while Yuuri is crying. He offers to get the other man tissues, but Yuuri refuses, wiping his eyes on the back of his arm.

"I meant what I said, too," Yuuri says quietly, pouting a bit. "I _like_ being close to you, and I've liked you for a while. I just didn't want to screw our friendship up either."

"You hid it so well," Victor whispers, mouth slowly falling open as the gravity of the words hits him. "I felt like I was going to die every time I saw you. That first time we woke up with tangled legs on the couch got me."

Yuuri laughs wetly. "The first time you put your arm around me after class last year was what got me."

"We might as well have been dating this whole time, then," Victor grumbles, putting a hand out, as if to ask for Yuuri's own. "Let's make this thing official, even though we started off on the wrong foot."

Yuuri takes Victor's hand and hiccups with a runny nose. "You've got that right."

//

The next time Yuuri comes over to Victor's apartment and Victor kisses him on the cheek, Chris whistles, pinching both of their butts as he crosses the room. "You jerks had best stop flaunting your relationship around me. What is this now, your eight-month anniversary?"

"More like two-week anniversary," Victor corrects him quietly, entangling his hands with Yuuri's, feeling like nothing can stop him from floating on air this week, even though he has a paper due in two days.

"You can tell me whatever you like. I know the truth," the blonde replies, clicking his tongue.

The new couple receives similar treatment from Phichit, who just rolls his eyes when they tell him that they're officially together now, but it seems like all of their friends (and even their relatives) had assumed that they'd been together for the better part of the year anyways.

Eventually, Victor and Yuuri just decide to laugh about it.

Regardless of the time that's passed, they've spent it together, which is what matters, and now that they have expressly shared permission to kiss, curl up together, and be intimate, that's all that matters to them.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! ( ´ ♡ ` )ﾉ✧
> 
> ✮[my tumblr](http://wbtrashking.tumblr.com/)  
> ✮[my twitter](https://twitter.com/wbtrashking)


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